Spring Fever
by Dragonfly-Moonlight
Summary: G1. bit of a selfinsertion fic. Spring has arrived.


Winter . . . had been terrible. The temperatures had dropped to an unbelievable low, causing the roads to ice over and the lakes to freeze deeper than what they normally did. It felt like winter would never end, though Prime had admitted the cold kept the Decepticons snug in their base as it did the Autobots. The downside to that had been their humans friends stayed away as well. It was simply too dangerous for them to come to the Ark.

Finally, it happened. The sun started to come out and the snow had begun to melt. Temperatures started to reach into the forties, and Spike, Carly, Daniel and Chip started to come around a little more. It was during one of their visits that they noticed something a little . . . strange about Carly. She appeared to be a little worn down and somewhat waspish than usual.

At first, no one really paid attention to the human female's mannerisms, attributing it to the harshness of the winter. They hadn't liked being cooped up, as it were, and it made sense to them that she hadn't exactly appreciated it, either. Then, when she and Spike had started staying at the Ark once more, she had started to get sick . . . every morning. It had been alarming to say the least but, when she was confronted with it, Carly brushed them off, snapping at them if they pressed it any further. After that, they just left her alone but continued to watch her . . . and worry.

Ironhide sighed softly to himself as he found a place to park. As with Oregon, the snow in Michigan had begun to melt but at a much slower pace. Next to him, a teal station wagon pulled up and a very familiar face stepped out. He smiled to himself when he saw her. She'd cut her hair short and dyed it. Her hair even had traces of curls towards the ends. Idly, he wondered what could have happened to get her to change something about herself.

"Hey," she smiled as she climbed in the passenger side and closed the door.

"Hey yourself," he chuckled. "What's up with your hair?"

"Felt like a change," the girl winked. "That's all. What's up with you? You sounded kinda worried in your email. Is everything all right? Did Chromia kick you in your aft again?"

"No," Ironhide chuckled. "Nothing like that. It's Carly . . ."

"What about her?" came the prompt.

"I'm not sure . . ." he paused for a moment then continued. "She's been sick a lot lately. And moody. Very moody."

"Laughing one minute, crying the next?" she offered.

"Yeah . . . We all thought at first that it was just because she'd been cooped up for most of the winter but . . . she started to get sick every day . . . and her temper's not improved . . ."

"Huh . . . so why are you telling me this?"

"I don't know . . . I was thinking since, that you used to be a health care professional, you could maybe figure out what's wrong . . . or at least confirm something for me."

"Well, first of all, I can't make a diagnosis . . . I was a nursing assistant, not a nurse or a doctor. I just took care of people. I can guess but that's about it," she explained. "I'm not sure how much I can help. Why? What do you think is wrong?"

"I'm not sure," Ironhide replied. "But I have a hunch. However, before I tell it to you, I want to know if you're going to think the same thing. That's why I'm here."

"Huh . . . Okay . . ."

They sat in silence for a few moments, her expression furrowed in thought and he watching her. He knew that she couldn't make a diagnosis but he had still wanted to talk to her about it. Out of the humans' field of science and medicine, she had been the only one who had had direct contact with patients. Everyone else, though they had their PhDs and their doctorates, had been more of a scientific mind and interested in research. Finally, she broke the silence.

"You said she's been getting sick every day?" came the inquiry.

"Yep. Every morning, just after she eats," he replied.

"And moody?"

"Very moody," Ironhide confirmed.

"Has she been gaining any weight?"

"I think so . . ." he hesitated for a moment, trying to recall if he'd noticed such a thing or if anyone else had. "Yeah . . . Sunstreaker made a comment about her having gained some weight over the winter. A teasing one but also a bit snide . . . if she'd been a Femme bot, she'd have ripped his head off."

"I see . . . well, I'm not going to ask about the _other_ thing as you wouldn't know about that or even dare to ask her . . . but it sounds like she might be pregnant . . . or manic-depressive. One or the other."

"One or the other?" he chuckled, her words confirming his suspicions. He sent a private communique to Ratchet to have Carly checked. "You're a nut, you know that?"

"Of course I know that!" she exclaimed, winking. "I'm just surprised it's taken you this long to figure it out."  
Ironhide mentally shook his head. It didn't matter what went on in her life, she just never seemed to change. Always smiling, always finding a way to tease someone in a good-natured way.

"So how have things been for you?" he asked.

"Good," she nodded. "Can't wait for spring, though. Warmer weather. This winter has sucked."

"Tell me about it," he agreed with a slight grumble. "The Decepticons have been quiet because of it."

"Guess that means you're more than raring to go."

"Yeah . . ."

Silence.

"Well, I better get going, Ironhide. I'm supposed to be meeting a friend to go see a movie. You going to be around for a while?"

"Should be," he answered.

"Good," she grinned. "I'll see around then."

With that, she got out and headed for the movie theater. Ironhide shook his head as he watched her go.

"Just take care of yourself, girl. That's all I ask."

888888888

Optimus walked into the command center. It was his first stop on his usual circuit of the base. As the leader of the Autobots, he felt it to be his duty to make sure everything went as smoothly as it could . . . not to mentioned he was worried about Ironhide being in Michigan and in close proximity of that Decepticon supporter. Granted, her fanfiction output had been more along the lines of anime lately – mostly Inuyasha and Speed Racer – but it still hadn't changed the fact that she supported Megatron and his group . . . or the fact that she had a dark streak at least a mile wide and a mile long.

"Jazz, has Ironhide reported in yet?" he inquired, walking up behind the black and white Autobot.

"Not more than five minutes ago, Prime," came the reply. "He sent a message for Ratchet to run a physical exam on Carly. Says it's possible she might be pregnant again."

"Pregnant?" he echoed. "But she never acted like this when she was carrying Daniel."  
"Because every pregnancy is different," a female voice stated. "That's why."

Prime turned to see Carly standing in the entryway. Her eyes held an amused glint.

"I wondered why he'd gone to Michigan to speak with _her_," she commented before either he or Jazz could say anything. "He must have suspected something."

"But why _her_?" Prime inquired. "As far as we know, she's not qualified to make diagnosis like that."

"I don't know," Carly shrugged. "She's probably been around those who have been pregnant. We are taught what the signs of pregnancy are. I know health classes have changed a lot since my time. Maybe he trusts her guesses. You'd really have to ask him, Optimus. Now . . . since Ironhide thinks it to be prudent for Ratchet to give me a physical, I think I'll head to Repair Bay and torment Ratchet for a while."

She chuckled as she spun around and headed in the direction of Repair Bay. Prime shook his head. He knew that he would never understand human females for as long as he lived.

'They're just like the Femmes . . . worse, I think.'

"Um, Prime . . . I hate to break it to you . . . but we're picking up some Decepticon activity," Jazz stated, interrupting his thoughts.

"What? Where?" he demanded, whirling around to face the monitor.

"Not very far from here . . . about ten miles to the north . . .small group, it looks like."

"Get a group together. We're going after them," Prime ordered.

"You got it, Prime."

888888888

"Incoming!"

Frenzy glanced up just in time to see a rather large slush ball heading towards him. Letting out a small squeak of surprise, he immediately dodged then scooped up some slush of his own.

"You're going to pay for that, Rumble!" he shouted to his older brother. A short distance away stood Megatron and Soundwave, both with their arms folded. Megatron wore a slightly amused expression at the two's antics then he stretched slightly, trying to ease some of the knots in his muscle cables.

"Feels good to be outside again," he rumbled.

"Agreed."

They continued to watch as the brothers through slush at each other, eventually adding mud into the mix. The whole purpose of this excursion, really, had been to get Rumble and Frenzy out of the base . . . and away from the paints. Both cassettes had been going absolutely crazy from being kept inside for most of the winter and had been adopting some rather unique and inventive ways of torturing their fellow Decepticons, Skywarp especially, something that had been suggested by a certain friend of theirs no doubt. Eventually, they'd be leaving for Michigan with Ravage to go see some movies with a human friend of theirs but Megatron didn't want the poor girl to have suffer with two overly energetic Decepticons, despite some of her strange tendencies. It wouldn't be this way for long, not with spring on its way.

'Then the energy hunts begin again,' he thought darkly. Being stuck inside Decepticon HQ over the winter had had only one good thing about it: they didn't deplete their energy wares as completely as they had before. Soundwave's monotone interrupted his thoughts at that moment.

"Autobots approaching from the south."

"Great," he growled. "What do _they_ want?"

They both turned in towards the south and waited. Another downside to the upcoming spring and being out and about. Confrontations with the Autobots over the slightest of things. Megatron hated the Earth for that. He really did.


End file.
